


Sibling Bonding

by KriegersSpicyNipples



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: M/M, Odin's A+ Parenting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-28
Updated: 2019-11-05
Packaged: 2021-01-05 03:12:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,830
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21206462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KriegersSpicyNipples/pseuds/KriegersSpicyNipples
Summary: A spell gone wrong lands Loki and Thor in Hela's prison long before the events of Ragnarok.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't written in so long. I have no idea what I'm doing. Updates will be spotty - I work full time, go to law school in the evenings, and have a 5 month old daughter. Second chapter is already mostly written, though.
> 
> They're a little under a century old in this, but the Aesir equivalent of teenagers.

The scent of incense hung heavy in the air. All of the furniture in Loki’s sitting room had been pushed back against the walls to make space for a large, elaborate circle drawn on the floor in the center of the room. Loki stood in the middle of it all, hands on his hips, looking rather pleased with himself. A very basic teleportation spell - after all, seasoned sorcerers could transport themselves with a word, a gesture, or a thought. But Loki was young yet, not even a century old, and he had to start somewhere. 

Thor stood outside the circle, the designated furniture-mover. His work was done, but still he lingered. Sometimes Loki overextended himself and passed out when he was experimenting like this. Besides, Thor was still trying to work his way back into Loki’s good graces after an unfortunate incident the week prior when he’d excitedly tromped into Loki’s room after a spirited hunt, tracking blood and dirt all over his brother’s floor. Thor didn’t feel particularly bad about it, to be honest, but when Loki was cross with someone he let them know it, often in creative or painful ways. Sometimes both. 

Thor’s recompense sat heavy in a sheath against his hip - Loki was fond of daggers, and Thor had come across a beautiful one while exploring a seldom used section of the armory. Once the spell was complete and Thor had made certain that Loki wasn’t going to bloody his nose on the floor again, the elder brother would present the dagger and put an end to his torment. At least until he managed to irritate Loki again.

Loki took a slow breath, then began murmuring words in a language Thor didn’t recognize. Although Thor had little interest in seidrworking, he had to admit that he often found this part fascinating. This was perhaps the only time that Loki’s guard was truly down: when he was learning something new, focusing intensely on something he hadn’t yet mastered. Few others got to see him like this, face smoothed of any sign of a smirk or impending jibe, immersed in something from which he took honest enjoyment.

The markings of the circle seemed to lift off of the floor, swirling green, and Loki paused in his murmurings, his eyes going dull for a moment before he pitched forward. Familiar by now with the signs of seidr exhaustion, Thor rushed forward to catch him, but the moment he stepped onto the circle there was a flash of green. The last thing he felt was a sharp, pulsing burn at his hip.

***

Loki awoke to a throbbing headache and a ringing in his ears. Every inch of him hurt, but he forced himself to move, getting his arms beneath his chest and pushing up off of the-- grass? He lifted his head to try to get his bearings, but only managed a brief glimpse of a black boot that promptly nudged him with enough force to knock him back over. 

“Is this a joke?” 

Loki had begun to wonder the same thing, but he hadn’t spoken the words. He sat up again, this time unimpeded, and looked up to find a tall woman standing before him, dressed in green and black, dark hair hanging thick around her face. Her hands rested on her hips as she looked down her nose at him. Loki could feel the power coming off of her, the enormity of it enough to set him on edge like a cornered animal. Prey. 

He had only ever felt energy that strong on one other person, and that person’s power was also here, thick in the air, binding. 

Loki heard a groan behind him and abruptly realized that Thor was here, too. He was immediately calculating, trying to think of what his next move would be, but there were simply too many variables for him to even begin. Where were they? How had his spell gone so terribly wrong? Who was this woman, and why did every air molecule in this place taste of the Allfather’s power?

“I asked you a question.” Loki was unceremoniously kicked over again. To be honest, it didn’t take much - ‘kick’ was really a strong word. He was being lightly nudged by an impatient boot; he was simply too weak to withstand it. 

Thor, however, did not suffer from Loki’s seidr exhaustion, nor his need for planning. He sat up, saw a tall woman kick his brother, and immediately stumbled to his feet. “Fiend!” he shouted, reaching for the dagger he’d gotten for Loki, the only weapon he’d had on him in Loki’s room. The moment he unsheathed it he had the woman’s full attention. In an instant she was in front of him. She plucked the dagger from his fingers before he could react and knocked him aside. 

“Where did you get this?” she asked, almost absently as she held the dagger up to inspect it, cool green eyes moving over the length of the silver blade. After a few moments of admiring the weapon affectionately, she seemed to remember her question and stalked back over to Thor, bending and jerking him to his feet by his tunic. “Where did you get this?” she demanded again.

Loki felt panic rise in his chest. She was powerful. Too powerful for them to have any hope of fighting. He could feel her power in his bones. She could kill Thor - would kill Thor - easily. “Answer her!”

Startled by Loki’s abrupt command, Thor blurted out his response. “I found it in father’s armory!”

“‘Father?’” Now those eyes became calculating. Her hand moved from Thor’s tunic to wrap long, slender fingers around his neck. “Ah. You must be the brat who ruined my life.” 

Loki saw the tension increase in her fingers as they slowly tightened around his brother’s neck. Saw the way Thor’s blue eyes widened, hands lifting compulsively to clutch at her arms. It all seemed to be happening in slow motion as Loki’s mind raced. 

It was her dagger. This place reeked of Odin’s power. The way she’d repeated Thor when he said ‘father’...

“I can get you out!”

Everything went very quiet and very still. She dropped Thor, and the sound of him hitting the ground seemed unnaturally loud. She turned to Loki, gave him her full attention. He shuddered. 

“Go on,” she said, giving him what was probably meant to be an encouraging smile. She looked ready to devour him. 

Loki took a steadying breath. Smoothed his expression. “I broke in. I can break out.”

She sauntered over to him. Squatted in front of him, gripped his chin. Smiled that slow smile. “You’re a little liar, aren’t you?” she asked, and his chest felt icy with fear. “But I think you _can_ break out of here. You just need a little… motivation.” She glanced back at Thor, who was sitting up with his hands braced behind him, panting to catch his breath, staring at the two of them with wide eyes.

“I just need time to figure it out,” Loki said, a desperate edge to his voice.

“And you shall have it. There is nothing but time here.” She released him and stood, throwing her hands out. “I am Hela, goddess of death. And this is my prison.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Explanations and Thor has a bad dream.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I posted the first chapter I forgot to credit my best bro rainbowchibbit with the plot idea for this whole thing. It started as her fun RP idea and I turned it into this nightmare.

It wasn’t a particularly well-made prison. The security was good, certainly. There was no way for Hela to escape, Loki could tell that much. But it wasn’t very… imaginative. Especially considering that, as far as he could tell, it was meant to house Odin’s daughter for eternity. 

An empty field. Surrounding it, whiteness. Just blank nothingness. It almost hurt to look at for too long. In the center of the field, a small, rustic cabin. Insulting for someone who had likely grown up in a palace. It really seemed as if Odin had not put much effort into anything beyond making sure Hela was stuck here. 

Loki felt sick. 

Something about all of this felt foreboding. A dark voice whispered in the back of his mind _This is what he would have done with you, eventually._ Was Loki not also an embarrassment to Odin? With his slim build, not made for direct combat or heavy weapons. His penchant for schemes and tricks, never appreciated even when they achieved the necessary results. His tendency since childhood to occasionally slip into a female form, not befitting a prince of Asgard.

Would Odin have someday hidden him away, written his second son out of the history of Asgard? Made Loki nothing more than a memory, an embarrassing mistake?

He had to push those thoughts aside. Think on them later, or preferably never. Examining them felt too much like looking into the emptiness at the edge of Hela’s prison. _That way madness lies._

Besides, he had more pressing concerns.

He and Thor followed Hela to her cabin. She was at least a head taller than both of them; they had not yet come of age. They looked like ducklings trailing behind their extremely terrifying mother. It reminded Loki that they were barely more than children, trapped here with a menace that much more seasoned warriors had no hope of overcoming. That even Odin had locked away, assumedly unable to face.

Hela pushed the door open, lips twisting in an expression of familiar disgust, and gestured them inside. Loki went first, Thor at his back, eager to keep himself between Loki and their sister. Ever the self-sacrificing fool, at least _he_ pleased their father--

No. Not now.

The interior of the cabin was spartan, at best. Bare wood floors, small windows. It was doubtful that Hela would give them a tour, but it looked like there was only one bedroom, a bathroom, what appeared to be a very neglected kitchen, and a small sitting room. It was the kind of home the common people of Asgard might occupy, not their royalty. 

The furniture was also sparse, but Loki sat down heavily on a couch in the sitting room, suddenly overcome with weakness. Now that he was somewhere even approximating some level of comfort, he found he could barely keep his eyes open. Hela watched him for a long moment before rolling her eyes. He was certain she could sense how depleted he was of seidr. 

“Rest,” she said. “You’ll need your strength to get me out of this place. You can share the couch.” 

Thor sat down next to Loki and the three of them were silent for several minutes. Loki wondered if Hela intended to watch him sleep. It occurred to him that she probably had no idea what to do. It was, objectively, a rather ridiculous situation: the three of them huddled in this cabin none of them would have lowered themselves to step foot inside prior to their current predicament, Hela unable to harm them while they were likely her only way out of this miserable place.

Perhaps “unable” was a strong word. Loki had a feeling that if he took too long devising an escape plan, Hela would run out of patience and rid herself of them. Or at least torture Thor a bit to motivate Loki. The problem was not having any way of gauging just how long her patience would hold out.

After what felt like an eternity of awkward silence, Hela sighed loudly and turned, making her way to the only bedroom. She slammed the door shut behind her. It felt like the entire little cottage rattled with the force of it.

“Tell me what’s going on,” Thor said the moment she was gone, and Loki realized that much of what had happened had gone over his head. 

“She’s our sister,” Loki said wearily, “banished to this place by Father.” It did not occur to him until he saw the look on Thor’s face what this might mean for him. Thor, the crown prince. Thor, the firstborn. His entire life was a lie.

It was Thor’s turn to feel sick. He leaned back on the couch, suddenly boneless. “We don’t have a sister,” he protested.

Loki set a hand carefully on his brother’s shoulder. Comforting was not exactly his strength, but they both needed to get past this to figure out their next step. “Apparently we do.”

Thor shook his head as if to clear it. Set the whole thing aside for later examination. Loki envied how easily he did that. “How did we get here?”

Loki hadn’t quite worked that part out yet, but would have to eventually. Getting in, he suspected, was also the key to getting out. “I was testing out a teleportation spell. You had her dagger, you stepped into the circle…” Exhaustion was beginning to get the better of him.

“And we were teleported here instead of to where you intended?”

Loki shot Thor a brief glare. “I didn’t intend to teleport _you_ anywhere. Only myself. If you hadn’t stepped into the circle--”

“You’d have fallen flat on your face and bloodied your nose again,” Thor finished for him, familiar anger rising inside him in response to Loki’s irritation.

“Which would be preferable to our current predicament!” Loki pointed out. “Where did you even get that dagger?”

“As I said, I found it in Father’s armory.” Thor crossed his arms over his chest sullenly. “It was a gift for you.”

“It was a bribe,” Loki muttered, and Thor huffed in response.

Loki tilted his head back and dropped an arm over his eyes, his head still pounding and exhaustion tugging at his already frayed nerves. For a few moments, he heard only the sound of Thor’s quiet breathing. This place was eerily still. Otherworldly in a menacing sort of way. His skin prickled.

“What do we do?” Thor asked, also growing uneasy in the silence. 

Loki lowered his arm. Pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes. “We rest. Then I figure out how to get us out of here.” 

A long pause. 

“All of us?”

“Yes.”

“But what will she do when she’s set free?”

Loki sighed. “I don’t know. I don’t care.” God of mischief, god of lies.

“I care.” Thor sounded stern. Disappointed. Loki _hated_ that. 

“What would you have me do, Thor?” he asked, so tired.

Thor tugged Loki’s hands down so that he could see his brother’s green eyes. Loki always tried to hide behind his words, but Thor knew him. Or at least he thought he did. “You care, too.”

Loki’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t know why you care,” he said, deflecting. “Odin lied to you. To both of us.” 

“Oh, so now he’s Odin? Not father?”

“Yes!” Loki insisted. “Do fathers lock away their children and strike them from history?”

“Mother had to have known, too,” Thor murmured thoughtfully. His gaze met Loki’s. “Is she no longer Mother?”

Cheap shot. “I am too tired for this,” Loki complained instead of answering. 

Thor smirked smugly. Thinking he’d won. Loki cuffed him over the head and Thor let out a startled yelp. Loki used Thor’s distraction to push him further down the couch and then shifted into a lying position, legs curled up and feet pressed to his brother’s thigh. That was the best they’d manage with the two of them sharing the couch.

Thor rubbed at his head and looked down at Loki, sighing. Seeing him curled up like that reminded Thor vividly of the two of them sleeping in a loft in the stables with a stolen wineskin. It felt like ages ago. “You’re really going to sleep?”

“Yes,” Loki answered firmly. “I am exhausted, my head hurts, and it’s all your fault. I am going to sleep.”

Thor puffed out his chest. “Then I’ll have to stay awake and protect you.”

“You do that.” Loki closed his eyes and fell asleep almost immediately.

***

Thor tried to stay awake, he really did. But this place was so eerie. With Loki asleep, he felt oddly alone. He wasn’t positive, but Thor thought he could feel Hela in the next room. A blank, empty space that was _her_, pacing, plotting. Thor had never possessed the ability to sense others that way - that was more Loki’s strength. 

It made him uncomfortable. 

Thor let his head fall onto the back of the couch. Closed his eyes. Focused on the warmth of Loki’s feet tucked against his thigh. 

He was dreaming. He could tell because it was one of _those_ dreams. His mother told him they were prophetic dreams, but they never made any sense to him. What good were prophetic dreams if he couldn’t interpret them?

Loki was in front of him, but with his back turned to him. He was naked. Thor tried to keep his gaze firmly on the back of Loki’s head, but was distracted by odd patterns swirling over his brother’s pale skin. He took a step forward. “Loki?”

His brother turned to face him, and Thor felt horror clawing at his chest. Loki’s mouth was sewn shut.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoops it got weird.


End file.
